This book explains the deep influence of biological methods and theories on the practice of Americanist archaeology by exploring W. C. McKern's use of Linnaean taxonomy as the model for development of a pottery classification system.

R. Lee Lyman is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Missouri--Columbia and coeditor of Setting the Agenda for American Archaeology.

Michael J. O'Brien is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Missouri--Columbia and coeditor of Changing Perspectives on the Archaeology of the Central Mississippi Valley.